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thoughts on faith

Crashingly Beautiful: A Tale of Two Sermons

crashinglybeautiful:

I must tell you that in our brotherhood there are two very old brethren; one is called Brother Ahl and the other Brother Sez. These brethern have voluntarily undertaken the obligation of periodically visiting all the monasteries of our order and explaining various aspects of the essence of…

 The people walking in darkness 
have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of the shadow of death,
a light has dawned.
You have enlarged the nation and increased their joy. 
They rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest, 
sharing gifts and warm greetings.

For you have shattered the yoke that burdens them,
shattered the staff and rod of their oppressors.
Every warrior’s boot and garment rolled in blood is
destined for burning, it is fuel for our fire.
Fr unto us a child is born and given,
and the government shall be on his shoulders.

And he will be called Wonderful Counselor,
Mighty and Everlasting God, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government and of peace
there will be no end,
on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
to establish it and uphold it
with justice and righteousness
from this time forth and forevermore.

Isaiah 9

crashinglybeautiful: Each place is the right place—the place where I am now can be a sacred space. ~Ravi Ravindra, from The Wisdom of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras photo courtesy of Jennifer Lynn (Taken with Instagram) Yes. Thank you, beingblog.

crashinglybeautiful:

Each place is the right place—the place where I am now can be a sacred space.

~Ravi Ravindra, from The Wisdom of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras

photo courtesy of Jennifer Lynn (Taken with Instagram)

Yes. Thank you, beingblog.

crashinglybeautiful: The Dalai Lama visits Thomas Merton’s grave in 1997 at the Abbey of Gethsemani “And the deepest level of communication is not communication, but communion. It is wordless. It is beyond words, and it is beyond speech,and it is beyond concept. Not that we discover a new unity. We discover an older unity. My dear brothers, we are already one. But we imagine that we are not. And what we have to recover is our original unity. What we have to be is what we are.”—Thomas Merton from his Asian Journals. Thank you, merkurie & reflejos.

crashinglybeautiful:

The Dalai Lama visits Thomas Merton’s grave in 1997 at the Abbey of Gethsemani

“And the deepest level of communication is not communication, but communion. It is wordless. It is beyond words, and it is beyond speech,and it is beyond concept. 

Not that we discover a new unity. We discover an older unity. My dear brothers, we are already one. But we imagine that we are not. And what we have to recover is our original unity. What we have to be is what we are.”

—Thomas Merton from his Asian Journals.

Thank you, merkurie & reflejos.

The function of prayer is not to influence God, but rather to change the nature of the one who prays.

Søren Kierkegaard (via bardsandsages)

Hail Mary, full of grace.
Our Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb,
Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.
Amen.

crashinglybeautiful: Ryōkan (1758-1831), from The Zen Fool Ryōkan translated by Misao Kodama & Hikosaku Yanagishima. Great! Thank you, sharanam.

crashinglybeautiful:

Ryōkan (1758-1831), from The Zen Fool Ryōkan translated by Misao Kodama & Hikosaku Yanagishima. Great! Thank you, sharanam.

Laughter is also a form of prayer.

Søren Kierkegaard (via proustitute)

Yoga teaches us to cure what need not be endured and endure what cannot be cured.

B.K.S. Iyengar

Heightened consciousness, the art of paying attention, enriches us and deepens our humanity; it gives us the opportunity to attend to the intricate texture and density that our experience offers. It helps us monitor our choices so we won’t endlessly repeat habitual mistakes. When we attend to what causes others pleasure and pain we increase our capacity for compassion and our penchant for justice. Ignore the grimace or joyful gesture of your friend or lover at your own peril. Turn your gaze from the hungry person on the street and everyone pays a price for that strategic omission. Every moment matters more when we retain an embodied consciousness. Certain Buddhist sects call this concentration “Mindfulness,” but this conscious awareness also serves as a kind of religious tenet of poetry.

Ira Sadoff